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Finance Bill

The reality is that in the Finance Act 2004 the Government let the genii out of the bottle. They introduced changes that led people to think that ASPs were an appropriate form of tax planning and of securing an income in their retirement. The Government legislated for that. Only last year, in the Finance Act 2006, the Government introduced changes to tighten up the rules, and this year they have come back and tried to restrict ASPs to make them less flexible and less attractive to people as a means of providing flexibility in retirement. The problem with the Government’s approach is that they are out of step with the desire of most people in this country to have greater control over their pension funds. They are out of step with the people of this country who want choice—[Interruption.]